Key ring carrier



M 7, 1979 V s,vo1Novx 3,519,177

KEY RING CARRIER Filed July 9, 1968 INVENTOB. Sweeny Voinovlcfi.

' BY M, (QM M Attorneys.

United States Patent 3,519,177 KEY RING CARRIER Sweeny Voinovich,Minerva, Ohio, assignor of one-half to Enno A. Knoche, Carnegie, Pa.Filed July 9, 1968, Ser. No. 743,494 Int. Cl. A44b 15/00; A41d 9/00 US.Cl. 22426 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE There is disclosed a keyring carrier comprised of a single strip of metal folded to form anelongated flat loop through which a belt may be passed. An integraltongue struck from one end of the strip passes through an opening in theoverlapping other end and provides a key ring holding clip.

This invention is for a novel key carrier designed to be worn on apersons belt with a clip element so arranged that a key ring may beeasily snapped into it or removed by a twist of the ring, but whichretains the key ring against accidental removal.

Many persons carry one or more keys on a key ring, and like to have themreadily accessible on their persons, but dislike having them in theirpockets, and the present invention provides a novel convenient carrierto be worn on a belt about the waist. The device is so constructed as toprevent accidental loss of the key and key ring when engaged on theholder, but from which the key ring may be readily removed when thewearer so requires.

According to the invention a flat metal strip of a somevxhat resilientcharacter, as for example stainless steel, is folded over in such amanner as to form an elongated narrow loop through which the wearersbelt may be passed. One end of the strip in this configuration overlapsthe other for a distance almost coextensive with the long dimension ofthe loop. The inner or underlying end fold portion has a thin elongatedtongue punched out from the metal and this is passed through an openingin the overlying fold. This tongue is curved upwardly, with its free endterminating in a downwardly-turned pointed hook, the tip of which bearsagainst the outer fold of the strip. Preferably the tongue is slantedsideways at a slight angle from a perpendicular direction to facilitatethe engagement and disengagement of a key ring therewith. There is thusprovided a key ring carrier, and to mount a key ring in the carrier, thering is pressed against the side of the pointed hook, camming itoutwardly, and when the ring is released after it has passed under thepointed end, the tongue will pass through the ring and its point willsnap back into position. The ring cannot then come off accidentally, butif the wearer wishes to remove the ring, he raises it against thepointed hook while simultaneously twisting the ring toward a planeperpendicular to the outer fold of flat metal, easily prying the ringpast the pointed hook and freeing it from the clip.

The invention may be more fully understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings showing a preferred embodiment of my invention,and in which:

FIG. 1 is an illustrative front view showing the key carrier on a beltwith the key ring with its keys engaged in the carrier;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the clip itself;

FIG. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section through the carriersubstantially in the plane of line III-III of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the blank from which the carrier is formed, theFIG. 4 being on a scale smaller than the other figures.

In the drawing, and referring first to FIG. 4, the key carrier of thisinvention is formed from a fiat strip of 3,519,177 Patented July 7, 1970metal designated generally as 2. It has an end portion 3 in which ispunched a tongue 4 with a pointed free end 5 and attached to the body ofthe strip at 6. The other end portion 7 of the strip has an elongatedopening 8 therethrough. The key carrier itself is formed by folding thesrtip -4 over into a flat elongated loop with the end portion 7overlapping the end fold portion 3, the overlap of the two end foldsextending through the greater portion of the length of the loop, and theouter fold 7 may also desirably incline downwardly and outwardly fromthe inner fold. The tongue portion 4 is bent outwardly to pass throughthe opening 8 in the overlying end portion 7, and then extends upwardlyin spaced relation to the surface of the portion 7. The free end of thetongue has a reversely or inwardly-curved hook portion 9 with the tip ofthe pointed hook 5 bearing against the surface of the outer fold 7. Theupwardly-extending portion of the tongue 4 may have a slight reversecurve at 10 to add resilience to the tongue and improve the appearanceof the device. Preferably as best seen in FIG. 4, the tongue 4 and theloop 8 are offset to one side of the longitudinal axis of the strip, andas best shown in FIG. 1, the tongue 10 extends upwardly on a slant sothat it is slightly inclined to the vertical axis of the loop.

The strip of metal 2 is desirably formed of a slightly resilient stripof metal, as for example stainless steel, so that the tongue will beresiliently urged to retain the tip of the point 5 against the outersurface of the end fold 7.

In use, the wearer slips the belt through the elongated loop, and theshape of the loop is such that the device will remain fiat against thebelt, and the belt is passed through the loop in such manner that thetongue 7 has its free end pointing upwardly, and the terms up and down,or top and bottom refer to these directions in the manner in which thekey carrier is worn on the belt.

In FIG. 1 a conventional key ring is indicated at 11 with keysillustrated as hanging therefrom. In use the key ring 11 is engagedunder the tongue 10 which forms a clip for hanging the key ring hangingfrom the key carrier. The reversely-turned hook portion 9 at the top ofthe tongue prevents the key ring from coming off the clip, even thoughthe wearer should be in a position other than an upright position. Toremove the key ring when it is desired to use the keys, one raises thering toward the top of the tongue, and at the same time twists the ringfrom the plane shown in FIG. 1 toward a portion normal to this plane.The ring pressing against the pointed end of the tongue earns the tongueoutwardly or the fold 7 inwardly, or both, allowing the ring to passunder the tip of the tongue, and thus be free of the key ring carrier.To engage the ring in the clip, a somewhat reverse procedure isfollowed, in which the wearer presses the ring against the side of thepointed end of the tongue, again springing or camrning it outwardlyuntil the ring has passed under the point of the tongue, and then thering is released and the parts are restored to the position shown inFIG. 1. With the outer end fold 7 of the strip being angled outwardlyand downwardly from the inner fold 3 as clearly shown in FIG. 3, thisfold also is resilient, tending to maintain the point 5 of the tongue incontact with its surface, and this fold will desirably press inwardly atthe same time that the tongue is springing outwardly for engaging ordisengaging the key ring from the clip. The removal of the key ring orits application to the clip is facilitated by reason of the sidewaysslant of the tongue, but this does not reduce any likelihood of the keyring becoming accidentally disengaged, because without actually liftingthe key ring and at the same time twisting it in the manner described,the key ring will simply fall into the reversely-turned hook 9.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodi- 3 ment of myinvention, it will be understood that various changes and modificationsmay be made, particularly with regard to the exact shape to which thetongue is bent and the terminal portion 5 of the tongue to providecamming surfaces, since a rounded point would serve equally as well asan angular point.

I claim:

1. A key ring carrier comprising an elongated or flat strip metal of asize and shape for a persons belt to pass therethrough with the loopflat against the belt, the strip having end fold portions which are inoverlapping relation for the major portion of the length of the loop,the outer end fold portion having an opening therethrough elongated inthe direction of the length of the end portion, the inner end foldportion having an integral tongue thereon which is attached at its lowerend to the body of the strip and which projects through the opening inthe outer end fold portion and extends upwardly over said outer end foldportion, said tongue having a reverselyturned hook portion at its freeend, the terminal of the hook being of decreasing width with its tipcontacting the outer end fold portion of the strip, the tonguethroughout the greater portion of its length being spaced outwardly fromthe outer end fold portion.

2. A key ring carrier as defined in claim 1 wherein the outer end foldportion is sprung outwardly and downwardly at a slight angle to theinner end fold portion.

3. A key ring carrier as defined in claim 1 wherein the tongue isslanted sidewise with respect to the longitudinal axis of the strip.

4. A key ring carrier as defined in claim 2 wherein the metal is of aresilient character to yieldably urge the tip of the tongue into contactwith the outer end fold portion and resiliently urge the outer end foldinto engagement with the tip of the tongue so that the fold may besprung inwardly and the tongue sprung outwardly when a key ring isengaged against the tip of the tongue for releasing or inserting the keyring into or out of engagement with the tongue.

5. A key ring carrier as defined in claim 1 in which the tongue has itsfree end portion in the form of a point.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,539,220 5/ 1925 Taylor.1,609,347 12/1926 Dee 224-5 X 3,357,615 12/1967 Hill 2245 GERALD M.FORLENZA, Primary Examiner R. J. SPAR, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.243; 224-5

